Nary and Jamie

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On this week's episode of The Amazing Race, the remaining teams head to Italy to start the European leg of the race. In the end, we see the greatness of humanity with an act of charity, and the worst part of it is in the form of Rachel.

Travel Agents

Art and JJ are the first team to get their clues, and they are told that they will be flying to Italy. They head to the travel agency to find the quickest flight and are told that they will be stuck on a plane for around 25 hours. This sort of down time is the thing that you are never shown about on this show. I'm sure that the racers spend more time on plans, trains, and automobiles than they do actually competing.

The rest of the teams are given their clues, and they all smartly head to the travel agency before going to the airport. Travel agency offices must not exist in Kentucky, because Mark and Bopper head straight for the airport. Art and JJ tell them they need to go back, and the mistake costs Kentucky over an hour of race time since they miss the first flight into Turin.

Driving School

The first flight lands and everyone gets into their cars to find their next clue. While Italy is known for its art, food and culture, it is not known for its civil engineering. All the teams struggle early on while trying to figure out how to drive on Italian roads. (Chase's Travel Hint: Lay on your horn and do your best to avoid hitting pedestrians.)

Border Patrol gets to the designated building first and see that there is a fast forward available, which would allow them to skip the rest of the race and go straight to the pit stop. All they have to do is land a model helicopter on a helmet that the other team member is wearing. That sounds easy enough, right?

Team Big Brother, Team Jersey, and the Army couple arrive and learn that they have to repel down the middle of the building, grab a hanging clue and make it to the bottom in under two minutes. Rachel from Big Brother makes quick work of the challenge and retrieves their next clue, telling them that they have to drive to an Auto Museum and find a 1916 Ford Tin Lizzie. This is the last part of this leg that Big Brother does well. Team Kentucky finally land and start their drive while the other teams are already well on their way.

First Break Down

The teams are instructed to create a Ford commercial while parking at the museum by using their active park assist feature. Big Brother arrives at the museum, but can't seem to figure out how to use this feature. This creates the first of many breakdowns of the day between an overly sensitive Rachel and hapless Brendon. Close behind them, Team Jersey arrive and easily park. The Army couple, Female Feds and Divorcees aren't far behind. Meanwhile, Border Patrol's gamble on the Fast Forward finally pays off and they are sent to the pit stop. The Cousins are still lost in the city along with Kentucky. It looks like a big gap is growing.

In the museum, Rachel finds the car with their next clue. All it is is a Euro Penny that the teams must use to find the building that is printed on it. The rest of the teams at the museum soon find the penny and figure out what needs to be done. Everyone leaves the museum except Rachel and Brendon, who are completely confused. This leads to Rachel's next break down.

The Amazing Race Is Supposed To Be Fun and Good

Team Jersey and the Army couple are the first teams to reach the building and retrieve their next clue. Teams must either clean a statue or eat and identify 14 different kinds of salami. Once again, always choose the one with less ways to mess up. More teams make it to the building, and they all choose to clean the statue except for Big Brother who wants to eat the salami. Way behind them, the cousins finally make it to the museum while team Kentucky is still repelling.

The teams drive to the statues, but once again get lost in the Italian roads. Rachel, meanwhile, is experiencing her THIRD breakdown of the day. She calls Brendon a quitter, says the wedding is off, cries because she wanted a free trip around the world with no work, and complains that the show isn't Big Brother. I have never watched Big Brother, and Rachel is doing nothing to make me want to change this. While they start the salami eating, the other teams are busy working on the statues.

Close Call

The Army couple are the first to finish their statue and finish in second behind the Border Patrol. It looks like this is really starting to turn into a two man race. Border Patrol finishes hours before everyone and are rewarded with $5,000 a piece. Not too shabby for landing a toy plane. The rest of the teams start finishing with Jersey in third, Divorcees in fourth, and the Female Feds in fifth.

Big Brother struggle through the salami challenge and are soon joined by the cousins. This causes Rachel to once again freak out. They finally finish and come into the pit stop in sixth. The cousins are behind them in seventh, and this leaves the Kentucky boys way in the back. They finally finish and feel like they had a great time and are ready to go home.

Art and JJ tell Bopper that they want to give him half of their winnings from the leg to help with his daughter (I already forgot the story behind this, but it sounds touching.) Not only does he receive that monetary gift, but they are also told that it was a non-elimination round.

What can I say that hasn't already been said about Rachel? I'll leave that to all of you out there. I'm just waiting for someone besides the Army couple and the Border Patrol teams to win.